1. Field of the Invention
The disclosure relates to printheads for evaporative printing of materials for organic light emitting device or diode (OLED). More specifically, the disclosure relates to a MEMS printhead fabricated from silicon material and assembled using backside support structure so as to define a modular printhead for ease of construction, attachment and assembly.
2. Description of Related Art
Organic optoelectronic devices, such as organic light emitting diodes (OLEDs) used for flat-panel displays, are fabricated by depositing layers of organic film onto a target substrate and coupling the top and bottom of the film stack to electrodes. Using advanced techniques, film layer thicknesses on the order of 100 nanometers can be achieved.
One such technique deposits OLED film layers onto substrate by thermal evaporation of the organic material from a thermal printhead. The organic ink material is first dissolved in a liquid carrier to form a liquid ink. The ink is transferred to the printhead, and the target substrate and printhead are drawn into close proximity. The ink is then heated in stages. The first stage evaporates the solvent. During the second stage, the ink is heated rapidly above its sublimation temperature until the organic ink materials evaporate to cause condensation of the organic vapor onto the target substrate. The process may be repeated until a desired film layer thickness is achieved. The composition of ink may be varied to achieve different colors and to optimize other properties such as viscosity and sublimation temperature.
In printing such films it also is important to deposit a dry film onto a surface so that the material being deposited forms a substantially solid film upon contact with the substrate. The solid film must have a uniform thickness. This is in contrast with ink printing where wet ink is deposited onto the surface and the ink then dries to form a solid film. Because ink printing deposits a wet film, it is commonly referred to as a wet printing method.
Wet printing methods have several significant disadvantages. First, as ink dries, the solid content of the ink may not be deposited uniformly over the deposited area. That is, as the solvent evaporates, the film uniformity and thickness varies substantially. For applications requiring precise uniformity and film thickness, such variations in uniformity and thickness are not acceptable. Second, the wet ink may interact with the underlying substrate. The interaction is particularly problematic when the underlying substrate is pre-coated with a delicate film. Finally, the surface of the printed film can be uneven. An application in which these problems are resolved is critical to OLED deposition.
The problem with wet printing can be partially resolved by using a dry transfer printing technique. In transfer printing techniques in general, the material to be deposited is first coated onto a transfer sheet and then the sheet is brought into contact with the surface onto which the material is to be transferred. This is the principle behind dye sublimation printing, in which dyes are sublimated from a ribbon in contact with the surface onto which the material will be transferred. This is also the principle behind carbon paper. However, the dry printing approach introduces new problems. Because contact is required between the transfer sheet and the target surface, if the target surface is delicate it may be damaged by contact. Furthermore, the transfer may be negatively impacted by the presence of small quantities of particles on either the transfer sheet or the target surface. Such particles will create a region of poor contact that impedes transfer.
The particle problem is especially acute in cases where the transfer region consists of a large area, as is typically employed in the processing of large area electronics such as flat panel televisions. In addition, conventional dry transfer techniques utilize only a portion of the material on the transfer medium, resulting in low material utilization and significant waste. Film material utilization is important when the film material is very expensive.
In addition, high resolution OLED displays may require pixel characteristic dimensions on the order of 100 microns or less. To achieve this degree of quality control, the printhead gap, that is, the gap between the printhead and the target substrate should be specified on an order of magnitude commensurate with the desired pixel characteristic dimensions. MEMS technology has been proposed for fabricating thermal printheads for evaporative deposition having this level of precision. One of the problems to be solved with this approach, and which is addressed by the present disclosure, is how to deliver thermal energy to the printing surface of a MEMS thermal printhead while enabling a sufficiently small print gap.